6 Tips For Buying Land For Your Custom Home

6 Tips For Buying Land For Your Custom Home

One of the first steps leading up to you having your own custom-built home is to acquire the land on which the home will be built. The most convenient way to do this is to buy a lot on a premium site set aside for custom home builders. OZ Custom Home Builders has several beautiful home lots available for a stress-free purchase.

On the other hand, you may want to buy your own piece of land that will fit your specific needs and your budget. Not to worry, this can be done too, but you need to have a good plan in place to make the process as painless as possible. Here are a few tips on buying land, particularly if you are on a budget.

Take your time

Finding and buying the right piece of land that matches your needs and budget can take some time. It’s important not to be in a rush if you’re serious about getting the best possible deal. Karrie shares her experience:

I’m gonna start this out by letting you know that I looked for 2 years almost every single day for the perfect piece of land to build my new house on. Now I know that not everyone out there has the patience to wait like I did and honestly I didn’t think it would take that long to find the right land to build on in my budget. But it did. And this was out of necessity really as land in my area can be rather expensive. Plus I am picky and on a tight budget. Via Happy Money Saver

Determine how much you can afford

This is a big decision as any good deal includes you buying within your means, so you need to be realistic about how much you can afford.

Your budget is a big decision! Be realistic about how much you can afford. Many people purchase land and then slowly pay it off before building a house on it. Or live in a small trailer on their land while they pay it off. Others save up and pay cash outright for their land. Did you know that land loans and construction loans can be rolled into one if you’re prepared to begin building right away? Yes they can! That was what my husband and I chose to do and we are really happy with how it all worked out in our budget. So whichever route you are planning figure out how much you can afford and try hard to stick with it. Via Happy Money Saver

You also need to figure out how much land you need, which would be based on what you want to do with it.

Decide on what you want the land for. Do you want to have animals? Do you want some pasture land? Do you just want a small backyard? A garden? A pool? Via Happy Money Saver

Find out about the covenants for every potential piece of land you consider

Covenants place restrictions on what you are allowed to do on your piece of land. Although they can sometimes be quite strict, they may also save you the trouble of noisy neighbors.

I have never really been a huge fan of covenants that are super strict because I love my freedom to do whatever I want. However with having not many covenants you run the risk of having a neighbor with a metal collecting junk yard next door which can devalue your property in the future so keep that in mind. Via Happy Money Saver

Water rights stipulate how much of your lot you can water. Full water rights are preferable, particularly if landscaping is an important part of your custom home.

Make sure you look to see if you have full watering rights to your property and what type of water you can have. This can be devastating to buy a lot of land and find out you cannot even drill a well to get water. If you have irrigation rights find out if your lot has full water rights. Over here where I live in the Tri-Cities, WA you will find many people that purchase a 2 acre lot find out they only have water rights to water ½ an acre of it. So you will see many homes with green right around their house and then it cuts off into brown un-watered desert for the remainder of their property. What good is the land when you cannot even water it? Via Happy Money Saver

Located near good schools for your kids

If you have kids, their education is a priority, so you need to find a lot in a location with good schools.

I want my kids to get a great education so I researched all the schools stats in my town. Then printed out a city map and highlighted the areas to choose from with better schools so I made sure when I saw a lot it was in an area I wanted before I went any further in the process. Via Happy Money Saver

It’s advisable to have a list of the things you want before you start searching for a piece of land. You may not get everything on your list, but it will help you not to leave out anything important when making your final decision.

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Testimoninals

"We chose Oz Custom Homes because I felt that I could “work” with this builder. He was a good listener, was upfront, honest and extremely knowledgeable. He listened to my vision and put it on paper! He walked me through the process with integrity and most importantly I never felt intimidated. I always felt like I was his only customer!"

Kind Words:

"We chose Oz Custom Homes because I felt that I could “work” with this builder. He was a great listener, upfront, honest and extremely knowledgeable. He listened to my vision and put it on paper! He walked me through the process with integrity and most importantly I never felt intimidated. I always felt like I was his only customer!"
— Tracy Burke, Homeowner